Daughter's Misery
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Rowena is concerned by her daughter's melancholy. Written for History, for Camp Potter


Author's Notes: Written for the first activity for History assignment for Camp Potter – _write about the Founders_.

)O(

Rowena sat across from Salazar at the otherwise empty staff table in the Great Hall. She stroked the eagle perched upon the chair's arm. It ruffled its feathers every time she touched it.

Salazar was idly swirling his goblet of wine, and he watched her with an intensity that was quite unnerving – or, rather, which would have been unnerving, were Rowena not used to Salazar's ways.

"You are troubled," he observed, his voice measured and calm as ever it was, with only a hint of worry. He sounded more commanding than concerned when he added, "Tell me why."

"My daughter troubles me," Rowena said, turning her eyes to her eagle so she would not need to look at Salazar while she spoke. "I know her to be unhappy here."

"You are always thinking of your daughter."

"If you had children, I have no doubt that your mind would be likewise occupied."

"That is the reason I never did have children, my dearest Rowena." He drank from his wine, then reclined in his high-backed chair and rested one boot on the edge of the table. He swung his free leg back and forth, tapping his heel against his chair's leg. "I could not abide to have my mind so singularly occupied."

"The minds of childless men are singularly occupied by a different matter," Rowena said sternly, her eyes flicking down to Salazar's legs where they were parted. His lips twitched into a rakish smile and he raised his goblet to her, a mock toast.

"Quite so, my lady, quite so. It is only childless women whose minds are truly free – no doubt, that is why we all so rely on Helga."

Rowena inclined her head, and took her own flask of wine to drink from it, acknowledging his toast. "To Helga, then," she said, and drank.

"To Helga, aye, and to the daughters who occupy the minds of women and women who occupy the minds of men." Salazar drank as well, deeply, before setting his goblet down once more and looking questioningly to Rowena. "And now, pray tell, what is it about your daughter's unhappiness that troubles you so?"

Rowena frowned at him. "The very fact of her unhappiness is what troubles me. A mother never wishes misery on her daughter."

"What is the source of her misery, then?"

She sighed, closing her fingers around her eagle's middle and clutching its body hard enough to elicit a reproaching shriek from it. "I think that Hogwarts does not suit her. She is idle here, and from her idleness comes melancholy."

"Then why require her to remain at Hogwarts?" Salazar's brows drew together. "If she is unsuited to life here, why not send her back to Glen, arrange a marriage for her or allow her to attract a suitor who pleases her, and have her live out her days there? She is more than old enough to take a husband."

"I cannot," Rowena said sharply. She had thought on it many times, but always her thoughts returned to the same dilemma. "She is not- not prepared for a life so far away from me. I–" She choked on her words and swallowed, then said rather more quietly. "I question the soundness of her mind, Salazar."

The confession hung in the air between them. Salazar appeared to be pondering it, and Rowena was shocked at herself for saying aloud what had been a dark shadow of a thought in the back of her mind for years.

Salazar spoke at last, each word thoughtful and measured.

"Nonetheless," he said slowly, "I have no doubt that it would do her great good to be courted. It would relieve her boredom, at the least, and if she were married, she would have little time to indulge her melancholy."

"But how can she be courted without being allowed freedoms with which it would be unwise to trust her?"

Now Salazar was smiling – the smile she saw most frequently on him when he _did_ smile, which communicated clearly that he had an idea which he knew would please those to whom he was about to impart it.

"There is a young man in Slytherin house who I think would suit her well," he said. "A Baron by birth, quite skilled in magic, cultured and well-spoken. He has expressed interest in remaining at Hogwarts after the completion of his studies, perhaps to teach future students. He is near clever enough to have been taught by you, and we both know Helena to be near ambitious enough to have been taught by me. It would be an ideal match, Rowena."

Rowena looked at him doubtfully and he sighed and reached across the table, catching her wrist in his hand.

"Give me your trust, Rowena," he told her earnestly. "When have you ever known me to lead you astray?"

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
